The bike I was supposed to race on
It’s been said that every great bike story begins with a mishap. A wrong turn, flat, or in my case a stolen Crux for the Crossbird race. Demo bikes were being used by other media for the earlier B and Women’s race and the 56 with my name on it never came back in. Waited, waited, other bikes in my sizes got claimed and then the mechanics scrambled to get me on another one. Last few minutes before the start, they found one, but the brake was broken. They tried. I tried. The announcer even said, “Bring Byron’s bike back, or the DL in his name will forever stand for DISAPPOINTED LONGING.”
Was this a magazine conspiracy? Payback for Hugga’s social prowess and criticizing their content farms or pay for play? Not sure, but after the start I thought, “damn it, I’m racing this and running a lap.”
So Todd Wells says to me
Hey where’s your bike?
Breathless, whispered reply
Got stolen. Running instead.
Being a rouleur from sea level, running a cross course in July was the worst set of feelings I’ve ever had in a race, but I was motivated by anger and I wanted them Spesh homeboys to know I can thrown down too, bike or not. The crowd seemed to appreciate the effort and I doubled-fisted beers and Belgian waffles. After the podium with Todd, a name I missed, and Ned Overend, I got an honorable mention.
Tubes thick like Stybar’s veins
If I had a bike, I think it would’ve performed very well. The Crux has been in development for 3 years. It arrives to market with an effort by Spesh to get some cred in the cross scene with a good bike – staging a race during a media event indicates as much. I define good in this category as one that doesn’t have slack geometry, Zertz in it, or made of aluminum from their City line. The Crux is a Tarmac for the dirt with the expected attention to detail, like the love handle.
A Ned feature, cause he carries the bike, instead of shouldering it
Because the downtube is so enormous, it’s hard to grab and hold. Spesh indented the bottom of the tube to grab and for two points on your arm when shouldering. Fork shudder is a thing of the past too.
This fork says I don’t shudder, does yours?
The relationship between a rider and a cross bike is much more involved to decide how well a bike goes in a few hours. I do know that when I descended from Alta with Phil Booth from Switchback Mag on rocky fire roads, I rode the shit out of that bike. Considering its heritage, the Crux is made for fire roads. With the right wheel, tires, pressure, and weight dropped from the stock bike, I’d expect it to perform at the highest level in CX.
Spesh wants to make sure you know what’s between your legs
Now for more riding today with trashed legs. I’ve got a date with Ned.
Ned’s on my dance card today
Is there a bike with my name on it in the demo tent today?
High-rez photos of the Cruz are lightboxed on G+, including more detail shots.
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